Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-09-30
y New Hampshire Opinion.

The Manchester, n. H., Mirror and
american contains the following compli-
mentary article under the caption The
Vermont Farmers"
Our reporter who went up TO the Yer
mont state Fair last week has returned
an enthusiastic admirer of Green Noun
tain farms and farmers. The exhibition
was IL him revelation OF agricultural
wealth, such as he had never seen in New
Hampshire aud scarcely expected to find
IL New England And this we think is
the case with nearly every man who goes
for the first time from our own state
across the Connecticut to an annual fair.
Vermont is undoubtedly the garden of
the East. There may be portions of other
States as fertile and we'll titled indeed,
we suppose there Is more good land in
Maine than in Vermont, and the demands
Of city markets in Massachusetts and
Connecticut have caused some sections or
these commonwealth to be enriched so as
to yield enormous crops, but taken as
whole, there is no other whose farms and
farmers can match Vermont. She has
little waste land. Her hills are crowned
with IelGs ana pastures in which the
sweetest grasses grow luXuriantly and
her valleys are of rich loan which only
needs tn he tickled with 4 hoe, and a horse
hoe It that, to laugh with a harvest. Her
people are fitted TO make the most Of the
pleasant places III which their lot is cast.
/ Taken together they come nearer to being
genuine thoroughbred Yankees than those
OF almost any other State in the Union.
Intelligent, Industrious, sclf-relant born
and bred to their calling, they are as a
rule, types ~ the ideal New England far
lneI il The days when farming was our
leading. BEST and most prosperous indus
try Beyond this, is the fact that they
are generally devoted to their business
and content with II. 1t is their object to
Itt,rl roll III Of -
possible and not to run away and leave it.
The Vermont farmer is not merely stay
ing on his broad acres until he can get
JOB in store or mill, but he is there to
make them yield good living for him
self and family and leave them in good
condition to his children. This is reflect.
ed or suggested by every farmers meet
ing and fair We never attended one of
these gatherings in which the managers
and leading spirits were not practical far.
merS, who were able to tell and show
| what they were doing and why they were
doincit, instead of professional men and
| politicians who We're compelled TO occu-
Ply the time, in advising other people to do
what they themselves dared not under
take, or having undertaken, had abandon
ed
IN New Hampshire we may almost say
we have none OF these conditions. 4
! ia--e share OF our soil IS sterile, and much
oil iJ entirely unfit for cultivation, and too
| many % O1r farmers Keep but one eye
upou jlrir business, while the other is
| ipCEluS tlt' OH Tor chance in the city
/ o. Village agriculture IS Wedgtl in be
! tween Other cAjl!ngs, which, 10 the super
! Lc.ai observer, II least, nave more Gttrac
/ lions, ;au THO result is Il demorali2ing
I spirit o. discomfort and unrest, which i
/ vastly ana vitality different from TIE
@-GGay.u- confidence and uutiNuE .-ai
( winch inspires the husbanGuen OF Yer